| A EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN
The Mediterranean on the threshold of the new
millennium does not offer a very rosy picture. Its northern coast
lags behind Europe, and its southern coast lags behind the northern
one. The whole of the Mediterranean region is encountering difficulties,
both in the north and in the south. But can a region torn apart
by conflicts and divided by differences be considered a whole at
all Israel and Palestine are in armed conflict, Turkey and Greece
in conflict; the two parts of Cyprus are consumed with mutual hatred;
the Balkans were afflicted by wars; there are difficulties in Lebanon,
Algeria, Albania and elsewhere.
The European Union pays no attention to the Mediterranean;
Europe is neglecting "the cradle of Europe". Explanations
offered by European officials cannot convince those to whom they
are addressed. Perhaps even the officials themselves do not believe
them. The ambitions of the continent do not coincide with the expectations
of the coast. The coastal area suffers because of its own hinterland.
Decisions crucial for the Mediterranean are made elsewhere, or without
its representatives. This breeds mistrust and discontent. New divides
are emerging, and old ones are deepening - namely between continental
and coastal Europe, and between the northern and southern Mediterranean.
Cries of enthusiasm at the sight of the sea and islands are becoming
more and more sporadic and short-lived. Sunsets have spread over
the landscape, "crepuscularisms" inspire poetry. Restlessness
has crept into history - that is, into the understanding of it.
The direction North - South has become controversial in both science
and politics. The Mediterranean is disappearing
from the chronicles in which the feats of our time are recorded.
The thought oh the South is awakening in gulfs, it is rising in
rebellion in ports. We have witnessed efforts to change the present
situation - various proposals in statements and programmes: the
Athens, Marseilles and Genoa agreements, "The Plan for Action
for the Mediterranean" (PAM), and especially "The Blue
Plan" (Plan Bleu) adopted in Sophia - Antipolis, a suburb of
Nice, with development stages to "the horizon in 2025";
the agreements signed in Naples, Malta, Tunis, Split, Palma de Mallorca,
and a particularly important Conference in Barcelona in 1995, the
preparations for which were long and thorough… All these attempts,
along with the promises that accompanied them, have not met expectations.
Tempting promises of "cooperation", "partnership",
"exchange", "solidarity", … have not borne
fruit. Their number and repetition make debates on the Mediterranean
less and less convincing.
The exchange between the European Union and the Mediterranean
region dropped significantly after the fall of the Berlin Wall;
despite everything, markets in Central and Eastern Europe seem more
interesting and more profitable to investors. The countries on the
African coast receive only a modest amount of help, just like the
developing countries. Some of them do not accept the concept of
"the Mediterranean" because they feel it hides belated
ambitions of colonialism. Prejudice prevents overcoming the negative
legacy oh the past. Both sides of the Mediterranean - the southern
and northern - have become more important on the maps unfolded by
strategists than on those spread out by economists.
* * *
Almost everything has been side of "the vast ocean" (this
is a biblical expression) which has become "a strait".
Its significance changed through time and space, yet the awareness
of changes within the ocean itself was not present. The Mediterranean
lagged behind modernity. It did not embrace its criteria,
demands and signs. For a long time the Mediterranean had been the
centre of the world and it was difficult for Mediterranean countries
to accept the fact that there were other, more important centres,
to which new paths led and where greater discoveries were expected.
"The garden of history" became a victim of historicism.
"The source of the myth" struggled with mythologies, both
its own and those oh others. "The idea of the Mediterranean"
and the Mediterranean itself were not able to come to terms with
each other. The mental picture of the reality and the reality itself
replaced each other. The way of thinking gave in to mental stereotypes.
The truth about itself was concealed by illusions of the truth.
The identity of essence, which is timeless and inherent to the coasts
of the Mediterranean, cannot be brought into harmony with the identity
of agency, because the latter is helpless or made impossible. Following
the tradition, which is difficult to resist, the Mediterranean is
seen as something from the past and nothing more. The admiration
of its "glorious past" has not always done it good: the
Mediterranean needs the present and the future too. The great achievements
of the Mediterranean are accompanied by the thought of expatriation.
To again name the troubles "The Inner Sea" carries with
it is a futile exercise; but, a polluted coastline, a damaged environment,
a lack of order, poor organisation, unlawful construction, corruption
in both the literal and figurative senses of the world, migration
from hinterland to the coast, and from the coast as far from one's
own hinterland as possible. The best traditions, those which have
tried to combine art with the art of living, have resisted such
a fate. The Mediterranean waits for this fate as an injustice or
a punishment.
* * *
In this vast amphitheatre one and the same repertoire has been
playing for far too long - the words and gestures on the stage are
becoming familiar and predictable. Rhetorical formulae, the dialectics
of politics and of other traditions of the Mediterranean spirit,
have been in use for too long and are worn out. The relations between
the centre and the periphery, between the places near by and those
far away, between symmetry and asymmetry have acquired a meaning
they did not have in the past. Euclidean geometry is reliable, but
not adequate - new dimensions of space and existence have been discovered.
With a new voyage ahead, it is necessary to check what shape the
crew and the equipment are in. The Mediterranean
has waited for its Renaissance for a very long time.
The participants in the performance ask themselves questions and
look for answers to these questions:
"Is the Mediterranean outside our imagination?" the Mediterranean
in reality is different from that in the imagination
this can sometimes be an advantage, but sometimes it is a disadvantage:
"To conceive an alternative culture, a culture inherent to
the Mediterranean" - this proposal can also be heard on the
stage. This is not something that can be easily or quickly carried
out. It requires preparation and determination.
"To resolve the differences in our views on the Mediterranean"
- we could begin with this, but even this cannot be taken for granted.
Every once in a while there comes a period when illusions seem attractive,
nostalgia dangerous, aberrations fatal.
"Old, torn ropes, which were used to tie ships and fates, lie
at the bottom of the sea just off the coast". Ignorance and
intolerance tore them where the sea had not eaten them away. Some
of them were in use for too long and turned to dust.
"Is there a Mediterranean culture?" There is no such thing
as a single Mediterranean culture. There are several cultures in
the bosom of the one and only Mediterranean culture, with some similarities
and some differences between them. They are only rarely joined,
and they are never the same. They owe their similarities to the
sea between them and the coming together of the nations, forms and
inspirations on the coasts of this sea. The differences between
them come from their different backgrounds, histories and affinities.
Neither the similarities nor the differences are constant and absolute.
Sometimes the former prevail, and at other times the latter. The
rest is mythology.
Leonardo da Vinci wrote in one of his less known notebooks:
"From East to West there is a division in each point".
Everything that happened in the Balkans had to happen, so that we
could grasp the gravity of this statement: so many - divisions"
so close together in such a small area! In the Balkans Peninsula
Greek tragedy was born. In the Middle East the holy scriptures of
the three religions of the one God were written. The war that has
been going on for decades in the Holy Land, like the war in the
Balkans, cannot end by itself. It was proved once more that the
Mediterranean cannot decide its fate without help from others.
This sea also suffers because of the events that took place far
away from it. The attack on the two big skyscrapers in New York
at the very beginning of the millennium, on 11 September 2001, resounded
all over the Mediterranean. We could see once more how the condemnation
of a crime - a crime that should be condemned - can be generalised
at will and applied without foundation: within fundamentalism the
mystical belief differs from the militant ideology which makes use
of monstrous forms of terrorism. The misuse of these concepts gives
birth to distorted visions that are harmful to the Mediterranean.
The anxiety of ancient seamen on fragile galleys sailing to unknown
seas has long since been described. It is still felt by those who
take to the open sea not knowing what lies ahead, or by those who
are returning to the port wondering what is waiting for them there.
The coast, too, has found itself at the forefront of the question
of how to prevent "divisions in each point", the divisions
that are of no use, divisions that no-one needs. This question cannot
bear postponement and will not take excuses for an answer.
Predrag Matvejevic'
President
of the Scientific Council
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